No Need for a Kuzuri
by Angelwolfwriter12
Summary: Spin falls ill but insists on doing his job anyway, what will Captain Pounder say? Characters based on Spins Origins by TMNT-Ralph-fan (Sorry in advance for the bad-formatting, this is my first story)


Spin was not going to hold the others back.

They had let him into the FCPD with an understanding that this was not a free ride. Spin was expected to pull his weight and the weight of the others as much as he could. That meant swallowing any complaints that his head hurt, that he was dizzy, and pretending that he did not want to go to sleep until next year or empty his stomach of anything even resembling food.

Of course, he couldn't completely fulfill that last one as he braced himself next to the dumpster; heaving into piles of dried vomit left from other people. He hated to admit that he felt better after doing that.

"-pin? Spin where are you?" Pounder's annoyed voice crackled, as Spin caught his breath.

Spin swore as he pulled out his comm. "Captain, I'm where you told me to be."

"Spin, what did I say about anticipation?"

"That it saves you time in the long run?"

"So why didn't you anticipate like I told you to?"

Spin gave a frustrated growl. "I'm in position! What's the problem?"

"The problem is that you just let the suspect pass you!" Pounder snarled.

Spin watched Pounder and Penny speed past his position and swore. He scrambled up on top of the dumpster.

"What happened?" Penny's voice jeered over the comm. "Got distracted by a girl or something?"

Spin accidentally glanced down at his vomit while he looked for a foothold. "Or something...I'm on my way."

"Forget it, Rookie, head back to the Precinct ."

Spin rolled onto the roof; turns out he should have hurled a long time ago, he felt so much better.

Spin bit his lip; he could give up and go back to the Precinct or he could make it up to Captain Pounder and Penny by pulling some weight.

The suspect was heading east, Spin's eyes snapped open and he rolled across the track. He was pleasantly surprised to see that he had timed it perfectly, as he leapt off the track knowing full well that he would land on the one below. He landed on right in front of the Tensai startling the bug-eyed purp…and the Captain judging by the squawks coming from the comm.

He gave a surprised yell and crashed right into Spin.  
Spin, used to rough landings, tucked and rolled coming up without any bruises. The Tensai also seemed to know how to handle unexpected stops, though not as well as Spin, and the two unsteadily rose to their feet.

The Tensai pulled a blaster, pointing it in Spin's direction. He fired, missing Spin as the weapon swayed too much to aim.

Spin had no such problem with his aim as he cuffed the bad guy in a bubble.  
The Kei'zatsu looked over his shoulder at Spin, his frustration at the rookie obvious. "I thought I told you to go back to the Precinct ."

"I assume the word you were looking for was 'thanks', in which case you are _sooo_ welcome."

Penny grabbed his shoulder forcing him to look at the Kuzuri. "You almost got yourself killed with that stunt."  
Penny gave him a look that Spin didn't know what to make of; maybe annoyed but there was something else mixed in that Spin couldn't place.

Pounder stood, the disk in his hands as he looked Spin over.  
Spin felt like he was being measured. "What?"

"Are you okay?" Pounder asked with a look similar to Penny's on his face.

Spin scoffed, ignoring the feeling of vertigo that tried to tilt everything. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Pounder looked at Spin for a hair too long before he turned away. "Just asking,c'mon back to the precinct."

Back at the Precinct -

"Hey, Spin, you hungry?" Penny asked as she pulled out a few protein bars and sandwiches for the two of them. Spin never turned down food, boybots.

Spin sat at the table propping his head up with his fists. "Not hungry, thanks."

Penny whirled around in shock. "Are you feeling okay?"

Spin lifted his head up to glare at her. "Why does everyone keep asking me that?"

"The bot with a black hole for a stomach just turned down food!"

Spin rested his head back on his fists again. "I'm just not hungry; it's not the end of the world."

Penny opened her mouth to argue the point when Lance popped into the room. "Penny, I need your help."

"Lance, Spin turned down food!" Penny declared pointing at him.

"I'm just not hungry!" Spin exclaimed, frustration in his voice.

Penny looked over her shoulder to see Pounder standing in the doorway. The Kei'zatsu gave a small nod and Penny turned back to Lance. "Fine, let's go"

As Penny left the galley, Pounder stepped in seeing Spin sitting on the table leaning heavily on his fists.

"Just the guy I was looking for." Pounder said, "Figured we could do some training..." He stopped talking when he realized Spin was fast asleep.  
Pounder huffed, shaking his head. He gently laid the back of his hand against Spin's cheek; he was definitely running a fever.

Spin jerked awake, away from the touch, and opened his eyes. "What are you doing?"

"You're sick." Pounder said, resting his hand on the back of the seat.

"So?" Spin asked, resting his head on his fist. "I'm not holding you back."

"Not holding us back?" Pounder echoed.

"On patrols," Spin clarified, "It'll pass in a few days."

"Did you take any medicine already? If not, Nikoru keeps some fever reducer-"

Spin scoffed. "Don't bother; I've had worse. I'll live."

Pounder stared at his son with the regret. Did no one take care of him growing up?

Spin frowned at Pounder's scrutiny and stood up quickly. "Look it's no big dea-"

Spin paled suddenly, bringing his hand up to cover his mouth as he doubled over.

Pounder jumped up, and pulled the waste bucket to him from across the room and shoved it under Spin's mouth. Spin clumsily grabbed the bucket, heaving forcefully but nothing came up. He stopped, panting and shaking, sitting down heavily.

Pounder gently rubbed his back.

"S-sorry," Spin said, breathlessly.

Pounder gave a rueful smile. "Son, we all get sick every once in a while. You should get some sleep."

Spin shook his head. "I still have to-"

"Not a request." Pounder helped him to his feet.

Spin shook him off. "Don't baby me, I'm fine, okay! I can still do my job!"

Pounder narrowed his eyes as something clicked in his mind. "Did you throw up on patrol?"

"I-" Spin looked away, swaying gently.

The hesitation was answer enough.

"You're going to lie down and take something for that fever."

Spin bristled, walking out of the room to his bunk. "Save it, I can live without it. We might need it later."

Pounder followed, putting a hand on the teen's shaky elbow. "You know, you're more stubborn than me when I'm sick. I didn't think that was possible."

Spin looked up at the Kei'zatsu with confusion and fever-reddened eyes, "Why are you doing this?"

"Because you're sick and surprisingly stubborn. Why don't you want me to help?" Pounder prodded, opening the door to his office, so Spin could rest in peace.

"Not worth it." Spin murmured.

Pounder almost asked what wasn't worth it but he had a bad feeling he knew what Spin meant.

"Get some sleep; I'll be back with something for your fever in a bit."

Spin gave a noise of agreement as Pounder pulled a blanket over the bot.

Penny found the fever reducer where it was supposed to be: in the medkit and grabbed the bottle.

She approached the room right as Pounder stepped out.

"Captain."

The Kei'zatsu easily caught the bottle that Penny tossed.

"How is he?" Penny asked, trying not to let her concern show but failing.

Pounder had a pensive look on his face.

"...Captain?"

Pounder shook his head before answering "He'll be fine"

She blinked out of her thoughts when he realized Pounder was trying to coax Spin into taking the fever reducer.

"C'mon, it'll make you feel better."

"I'm fine, we might need it later." Spin protested looking as far from fine as he could without dying.

However, Captain Pounder, would not take no for an answer.

Spin sat up glaring at both of them. "Look, I can do my job and you are all making a big fuss over nothing! I'm fine, I pulled my weight, and I don't know what else you want-!"

"Spin."

Penny shifted away from Pounder, feeling like she was an intruder being in the Captain's office as the Kei'zatsu stared hard at Spin.

"Nobody likes being sick," Pounder said, firm but calm, "And I appreciate that you are giving it your all when you don't feel like it. But none of us will be focused on patrol if we're too busy worrying about you."

"You don't have to worry 'bout-"

"Too bad, we do. Just try and rest a couple of hours, take some medicine and get some sleep. I promise you'll both feel better and be more useful."

Spin glared at them for a moment longer before holding out his hand for the pills. The rookie popped him in his mouth; a crunch and a face the kid made let the two of them know that Spin had chewed the pills.

"You're supposed to swallow those whole." Pounder said, wincing in sympathy.

"Ugh, too late."

Pounder shook his head, a small smile on his face as Spin dramatically flopped back down on to his bunk.

\- On the Ninuja ship -

Nikoru was checking her datapad when she heard Pounder's boots enter the ship.  
"Hey, Love. How's Spin?" She asked without looking back.

Pounder sat down heavily into the co-pilot chair.

"That bad, huh?" She snarked with a grin.

Pounder was quiet.

Nikoru looked over to the co-pilot's seat to see Pounder staring out into the stars with unseeing eyes, his elbows on his knees.

Nikoru quickly secured the ship's computer and turned to her husband. "What's wrong?"

Pounder started, blinking at Nikoru. "What?"

"I said 'what's wrong'?"

Pounder let out a breath. "Nothing really, I just didn't expect Spin to be so stubborn."

"Sounds like there's more to it."

"Maybe or maybe I'm reading too much into it."

Nikoru shrugged. "Possible, but it's bugging you so spill."

Pounder was silent for a moment. "Do you think Spin feels…wanted here?"

Nikoru tilted her head and crossed her arms. "I think so…I mean he was happy to be a family again." She gave him a mischievous smile, "I know you were."

"I know, I know," Pounder held up his hands to forestall any teasing. "It's just that Spin seems determined to…I don't know, prove himself or something."

"'Prove himself?' What makes you say that?"

"He kept going on about not holding us back. Practically said he wasn't worthy of a couple of fever reducers, and actually tried to convince me that we should save the medicine for when we really need it."

Nikoru bit her lip. "As much as I hate to say it: It's kinda expected."

Pounder slouched into the chair. "He's been here for months!"

"And Spin's been on his own for years, Love. He's still a little insecure. Remember when he thought you were going to fire him. He thought you didn't want anything to do with him? Makes sense, first time gets sick he tries even harder than normal."

"He doesn't have to."

"Spin wants to. He just doesn't want to let us down."

"No, right now I'm letting him down."

Nikoru nodded. "I think at the moment we all are. The only thing we can do is try to show him that we're there for him. That he's not alone."

Pounder nodded, mulling over her advice. "Yeah..."


End file.
